Our Best or God's Best?

"And everyday, let me be like a sunflower; so that even on the darkest days I will stand tall and find the sunlight."

Hey babe risers, it's been a while since I last chatted with you all. To catch you up, life has been filled with new things it's almost been hard to keep up. I finished esthetics school, got my license and officially started taking clients at the salon. I'm so grateful to make an impact on people not only physically with their skin but also their hearts. My career path as an esthetician is so much more than making someone who is 60 look like they're 20 (we wish). It's about conditioning the heart and soul, loving on others and making them feel undeniably beautiful to themselves. Since high school, I felt a tug on my heart to go into full time ministry. In my mind, that meant working for "the big C" aka: church. Throughout this past year I have patiently learned that your full time ministry is your life wherever you are, and you can bring that into your work place. I am fully handing this business over to God and asking him to stretch me everyday. I ask Him to give me opportunities to speak life into people and to give them a purpose so much greater than the things of the world they are seeking. I cannot wait to step deeper into this ministry and see all that God has in store.

I really want to speak to you tonight about something personal. Something that I feel I wouldn't normally shout to the world but I'm in a mood to be transparent so here it goes. 

R E J E C T I O N

"Rejection doesn't mean you aren't good enough; it means the other person failed to notice what you have to offer."

We're all ladies here, so I am sure we've all felt those nights of rejection. Where you get dressed in that glorious outfit you've been waiting wear, hair is on point and your make-up is actually looking decent, only to arrive to find out you've been rejected. Rejection and abandonment has to stand high up there on the top 10 horrible feelings someone can feel.

Since leaving my job at Chick-fil-A the Lord put me on this crazy journey of finding and bettering myself every day. Part of that has been to overcome the rejection and abandonment issues that I felt from my biological dad not being a part of my life for the last 21 years. I believe that in the society that we live in today we deal with rejection on a daily basis, probably more than 100 times a day. You don't have to have abandonment in your life to say you suffer with rejection. We reject ourselves when we watch the Kardashians and see the ideal body society wants us to have, we reject ourselves when we post on Instagram and don't get as many likes as you did the day before, we feel rejected when our friend is having an off day and they don't send us their normal happy text. We feel rejection daily. 

So many emotions have been going on throughout my life recently and through my fellow boss babe risers lives. I hear stories and my heart just aches for what my sisters are going through. This very recent story (not to be shared for the secrecy of my girlfriend) made me reflect on myself on a-whole-nother level. I sat there and felt totally rejected because of thoughts the enemy placed into my mind. Things like, "you're really just not good enough for him", "you know, he's pursuing that other girl that he really likes spending time with" "maybe marriage just isn't in the books for you" or the best one yet "why would you even begin to think he would like someone like you?" So there I sat in my car, realizing it was a while back that I cried that hard, talking on the phone with a beautiful and sweet, sweet friend that told me it was okay to let it out and it hit me…I am NOT the one being rejected in this.

Let me explain myself a little better. I don't know about you but if I think for even one second that someone I like doesn't want to spend time with me or maybe isn't showing the same level of flirtation I count that as an immediate rejection. PAUSE. That's a lie. I had to stop and realize the reality, that I am making a conscious decision that at this moment he is not the right person for me. It's not rejection it's a decision. A decision to move on and be better. Focus on my path and my relationship with God and wait for the best He has to give me. Ladies that is what we will hold out for…God’s BEST. 

Let me send out a little reminder to you who may be hurting like I was tonight. Hurt, Pain, Anger, Temptation, Rejection and Abandonment all come from the enemy himself. He comes to steal, kill and destroy our lives while our God comes to bring us life and life to it's fullest. Whenever you think you're being rejected from something (we think is) good, remember that you could be redirected to something so much better. God makes beautiful things out of our mistakes. I am a living testimony to that.  Do not let the enemy feed you the thoughts and lies that you're not good enough. We are women warriors that will tell the enemy to put his nose in a corner because we are NOT having it today. We are holding out for God's best. If you find yourself constantly trying to prove your worth to someone, you have already forgotten your value. Stand firm in knowing your worth in Christ. Trust and be obedient and all other things will fall into place.

“We are wild and free, we are never too much and we are ALWAYS enough.”

Thanks for allowing me to be open, honest and transparent with you. I pray that this post will help you realize your worth and all that you deserve. 

Until next time lady loves,

Yeezy or Richy

My fellow ladyloves!

So here I am, staring at a blank screen questioning how in the world to start my first ever blog post. Part of me, as exciting as it is, has been avoiding it. There are so many things I want to share, but have yet to figure out how to put it into words. So here I am, staring at a now not-so-blank screen, writing to the beautiful and worthy babes (and maybe dudes) that are willing to read.

Allow me to introduce myself.

My name is Morgan but if you are rad enough, you might get to call me Mango. I like Chick-fil-A sauce, laying down on the beach (because who really enjoys long walks?) and Jesus (but not in that order). I grew up in sunny SoFlo with my one of a kind best friend who worked incredibly hard as a single working momma. I have recently embarked on this amazing journey of living on my own, starting a new job that has lead into furthering my education and building my future career. To say the least, it’s been a learning curve in so many ways. That’s just the skinny, but I’m sure we’ll find ways to divulge more things about me as this blog post goes on :)

Last night, I had dinner with a friend who took her sweet time to pour into me. I wish I could stress to you enough how beautiful it is to have a mentor in your life. She celebrates me in my big moments, encourages me in my down moments and ultimately reminds me of the Lord’s promises. Let me just say, last night’s conversations were not ordinary. We often speak on relationships because that seems to be the center of focus for me at this ripe old age of twenty-two (says Taylor Swift). She shared a quote with me that could not have slapped me harder in the face than a whiff of that freshly opened bottle of jalapeño salsa. Yes we were eating tacos. Are you ready? Here it is...

“You can so easily build a knight in shining armor out of a man made of straw.”

BOOM.

Let that sink in…

I look back on so many “relationships” in my past and think, how many men made of straw did I throw a little spray paint on and hand an armor and a sword and say “Yeah, that’s good enough”? Why do we do this to ourselves? Why don’t we realize that we are SO worthy of the man that God hand selected for us even if it means waiting longer than intended? Why don’t we understand that we are MORE than enough? We are daughters of the HIGHEST King. We deserve it. We are worthy. Many times our past comes back to haunt us whether it is seeing divorce as a child or going through one as an adult. Sometimes it's the lack of a parent while growing up, bullies throughout high school or some rotten boy who said you weren't good enough or said you were less than beautiful. Making poor decisions and allowing the guilt that the enemy throws at us can separate us from God as well. Yes, many of times those things impact us in the moment but God's plan is so much bigger than those past mistakes. 

"Let the ruins come to life
 in the beauty of Your Name
 rising up from the ashes
God forever You reign.
And my soul will find refuge
In the shadow of your wings
I will love you forever
And forever I'll sing."

So my rising-girls let this be a testimony to us. Do not settle for the man of straw especially if that scarecrow does not love you the way Jesus loves His bride. Choosing the scarecrow over the long awaited knight in shining armor is like picking Kanye over Rich Wilkerson Jr. If you don't know who either of them are, skip looking up Yeezy and go straight for Richy, but be prepared to swoon because yes he loves Jesus.
Ladies, hold out for your Wilkerson!!!

Hell NO…                          …Heaven YES


My friend/mentor shared a few titles for me to read as I go through this new stage in life. Now even though I’m not the best reader, I hope you are as encouraged as I am to read these along with me…

§  The New Rules of Sex, Love & Dating by Andy Stanley (Yes, Alyssa I will finish it!)

§  The Sacred Search by Gary Thomas

§  Boundaries in Dating, Safe People, Integrity & Never Go Back all by Henry Cloud

Until next time my ladyloves,

#PrayingForTricia

For someone who usually has so much to say, Tricia Todd's disappearance leaves me without much more than this.

This world has faced some pretty dark days, especially in the last year or so - or maybe I just finally noticed how broken we are, either way hashtags like #PrayforSyria, #PrayforParis,  #PrayforBrussels, #PrayforAmerica, etc are popping up everywhere and all the more frequently. 

Daily, I see missing persons or Amber alert posts being shared on social media, I saw it but it never affected me directly, so I didn't think much of it. 

All of those people are no less important than Tricia, but I grew up with her, I photographed her dancing with her daughter at a wedding last summer and have run into her around town. She is real. She is missing and because of her I will never look at another missing flyer, amber alert text or news report the same way. 

Bad things don't just happen to people who are in far off places, sometimes they happen in your own backyard to good people that you wish you knew better. 

My heart has been heavy for Tricia's family and especially her little girl since last week. 

I've been praying for her as often as I remember to, there was a beautiful gathering on Sunday with people from all over this community lifting up our voices, praying to the only One who knows where Tricia is right now. 

The candles burned out but the passion to bring her home has not wavered.

Last night I went to a worship service at church, I usually worship pretty freely (when i'm not worrying if my possible future hubby is staring me down, haha) but last night was different. 

I was singing but I was also praying and weeping; my thoughts were of Tricia because while we sang about God being our refuge and strength, I felt a sense of peace in knowing that He was keeping her in the shadow of His wings, protecting His child.

Only He can bring the ruins back to life, only He can protect her while Martin County is doing their best to find her. My heart is so sad but also so full, this community of people that have come together to search, support and to spread the word, have restored my faith in humanity.

We can take care of each other, we can come together for justice and do good things.

Its in these times of darkness that we can finally see the light.

If you read this, (all 3 of you, haha) please join us in praying for Tricia - wherever she is and whatever she is going through pray that God, our father, is watching over this precious woman. 

Pray for her family, that they would remain strong and courageous with each passing day that leaves everyone more perplexed than the last, pray that God would give them a sense of peace to calm the chaos. Pray, people. 

There is power in the name of Jesus. 

"When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.” 

Matt 18:20 (MSG)